Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 160 of 274)

      Magic give Cavs third straight loss

      February 21, 2010 /

      LeBron James posted 33 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Antawn Jamison bounced back from a dreadful Cav debut with a nice 19-point, eight-rebound effort, but the Magic supporting cast came up big in the fourth quarter to give Orlando a 101-95 win.

      Jameer Nelson (18-4-5) and Vince Carter (11-1-3) hit several big shots in the final period, and Rashard Lewis (15-4-2) hit a corner three that sealed the win for the Magic. Dwight Howard (22-16, 4 blks) did his usual damage early on, but Orlando went away from him in the fourth quarter, using a series of Nelson-Carter pick-and-rolls to free Carter up on the block.

      Shaq (20-5, 2 blks) had a nice game and was seemingly energized by his feud with Howard about who deserves to have the nickname “Superman.” But with both big men such poor foul shooters, neither team threw the ball inside much in the fourth quarter.

      Jamison proved his worth with a nine-point spurt to start the third quarter that gave the Cavs the lead. He’s going to be fine in Cleveland’s offense once he gets comfortable. He’s a tough cover for most power forwards, but as Jeff Van Gundy noted, he’s not nearly as tough to defend when he’s playing small forward. (The same goes for Rashard Lewis, who is far more productive at PF.)

      LeBron, coming off of back-to-back losses, seemed especially grumpy today, and was complaining just about every time he took the ball to the hoop and didn’t get the call. I think he has entered what I call the “Kobe Zone,” the convergence of talent and ego where a player thinks he can’t be stopped without a foul, so every failed drive to the basket finishes with some signal to the officials that they missed the call. LeBron took the ball into Dwight Howard twice — once in the first half and once in the fourth quarter — and both times he lit into the refs. On the first play, Howard was planted in the middle of the lane and LeBron clipped him as he went by, and it was a good no-call. The fourth quarter no-call consisted of LeBron taking it directly into Howard’s body and raised arms as Howard retreated towards the basket. The ball got knocked out of bounds and LeBron made his sour pickle face and screamed at the refs.

      But if the Cavs want an answer for what went wrong today, they need to look at their backcourt. Mo Williams (1-9), Anthony Parker (1-4) and Delonte West (2-9) combined to go 4-22 (18%) from the field, and that’s not going to get it done.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Daily News writer has the key to LeBron’s brain

      February 21, 2010 /

      No one really knows what LeBron will do this summer, not even LeBron. But Mitch Lawrence of the NY Daily News says you can cross three teams off the list.

      First, the Clippers…

      James isn’t playing second fiddle to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, even if Clippers GM Mike Dunleavy traded off Marcus Camby, Al Thornton, Sebastian Telfair and got rid of Ricky Davis to create a maximum salary slot for the express purpose of landing James.

      Kobe is turning 32 this season and isn’t going to play forever. He has already played 1,158 games and his knees are eventually going to give out, so LeBron wouldn’t be playing “second fiddle” for long, if at all. LeBron might see the taking of L.A. and the resurrecting of a long-maligned franchise as a worthy challenge. Will LeBron sign with the Clippers? Probably not, but not because of Kobe. The Clippers’ best player, Baron Davis, is already 30 and injury-prone, and owner Donald Sterling doesn’t have a very good reputation.

      Next up, the Nets…

      Continue reading »

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Jamison’s Cavs debut a dud

      February 19, 2010 /

      Check out this line from Antawn Jamison’s first game in a Cavs uni:

      26 min, 0-12 FG, 0-4 3PT, 2-2 FT, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pts

      Wow, that’s ugly. But it’s only one game and we all know Jamison is a better player than that.

      The Cavs lost to the Bobcats, 110-93. Tyrus Thomas debuted for Charlotte. Here’s his line:

      25 min, 3-9 FG, 3-4 FT, 12 reb, 2 ast, 6 blk, 9 pts

      Now that’s more like it.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      LeBron takes too many jumpers in crunch time

      February 19, 2010 /

      Yes, he posted a never-before-seen 43-13-15 last night, but he still jacks way too many jump shots. Case in point: Check out this series of shots by LeBron over the last nine minutes of last night’s 118-116 loss to the Nuggets.

      3:50 94-95 LeBron James makes free throw 1 of 2
      3:50 94-96 LeBron James makes free throw 2 of 2
      3:10 96-96 LeBron James misses 17-foot jumper
      2:39 98-98 LeBron James makes two point shot
      2:39 98-99 LeBron James makes free throw 1 of 1
      1:59 100-102 LeBron James makes driving layup
      1:23 102-102 LeBron James misses 24-foot three point jumper
      1:12 104-103 LeBron James makes free throw 1 of 2
      1:12 104-103 LeBron James misses free throw 2 of 2
      0:48 106-106 LeBron James makes 25-foot three point jumper
      0:00 106-106 LeBron James misses three point jumper (full court shot)

      3:19 109-110 LeBron James makes 12-foot jumper
      2:16 111-110 LeBron James misses 25-foot three point jumper
      1:50 113-110 LeBron James misses free throw 1 of 2
      1:50 113-111 LeBron James makes free throw 2 of 2
      0:48 116-113 LeBron James misses 24-foot three point jumper
      0:36 116-113 LeBron James misses 26-foot three point jumper
      0:23 116-115 LeBron James makes 9-foot running jumper
      0:23 116-116 LeBron James makes free throw 1 of 1
      0:00 118-116 LeBron James misses 28-foot three point jumper

      So, if we don’t count his desperation heave at the end of regulation, LeBron was 1-7 from 17-feet and beyond, and scored in some fashion virtually every time he went to the basket. He was 15-33 on the night and 1-9 from long range, so he was 14-24 on two-pointers and shot 17 free throws. In short, he was very successful when he attacked the rim, so he shouldn’t be settling for jumpers when the game is on the line.

      LeBron has worked hard on his three-point shot and is shooting a career-high 35.3% from deep this season. But he still doesn’t have a pure stroke, and probably never will. His elbow is cocked out and he often fades away. This is not how you shoot consistently from long range. To complicate matters, LeBron often has the ball in his hands so he’s not able to spot up like most pure shooters do. He has to dribble his way into position and take a contested shot — two more reasons why he should attack the basket.

      Just look at his game-by-game stats from the last month and a half. He made 30-49% of his threes just three times in 21 games. He shot 29% or lower twelve times and 50% or better six times. That is the definition of a streaky shooter. When he has it, he really has it, and when he doesn’t have it…well…last night was a great example. When his shot isn’t falling, he has to go to the hole, especially when the game is on the line.

      For all the talk last night about how Carmelo Anthony was guarding LeBron, let’s get real — Carmelo can’t guard LeBron off the dribble. No one can. The only one that can stop LeBron is LeBron.

      I’m not saying he should stop taking threes altogether, but if his shot isn’t falling, he has to attack the rim.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Did Chris Bosh really say that he doesn’t want to play second banana?

      February 19, 2010 /

      Ric Bucher wrote the following in the ESPN rumors section:

      …since Raptors PF/C Chris Bosh made it clear over All-Star weekend that he’s not interested in leaving Toronto to be the second banana elsewhere.

      Here’s what Bosh actually said, courtesy of the Toronto Sun.

      “I was just looking at what people say and it’s like: ‘Chris is going to go here and play with him or this, this and that.’ I’m like: Wait a minute. I feel like I should be built around. And maybe that’s just my ego talking, but I feel that I’m a very good player in this league and I’m only going to get better. So … maybe we should be getting somebody (in Toronto).”

      From the what-did-he-mean-by-that portion of the program came this little tidbit from Bosh: “Things you like and dislike change daily,” Bosh said, “(which makes it) impossible almost to not only predict the future, but predict your feelings.”

      How do you leave this exchange thinking that Bosh “made it clear that he’s not interested in leaving Toronto to be the second banana elsewhere”? To me, it sounds like a guy who is angry at the media for assuming that he’s leaving Toronto this summer. He suggests that the team should be “getting somebody” in Toronto, but the Raptors aren’t going to have any cap space for the next couple of summers — they did their “getting” last summer when they signed Hedo Turkoglu.

      So if the Raptors finish the season with 44 or 45 wins and bow out in the first round of the playoffs, does anyone really think that Bosh isn’t going to think long and hard about playing elsewhere? Being “built around” is fine, but as history has shown, it takes two superstars to win a NBA championship, and the Raptors only have one.

      Bucher is taking Bosh’s words as gospel — that he’s not leaving Toronto to play with LeBron or Wade elsewhere — but in the very same interview Bosh admits what he likes or doesn’t like changes daily, and says it’s impossible to predict the future. I have no problem if Raptor fans find comfort in Bosh’s words, but Bucher is making that extra leap by saying that Bosh has ruled out playing somewhere else, and that’s simply not what the man said.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

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